The Baltimore Ravens got the worst possible news out of Wednesday’s joint practice with the Vikings. Center Danny Pinter tore his patella tendon and is expected to miss the entire 2026 season. That is a serious injury, a full-year rehab, and a real problem for a team that was already trying to figure out its offensive line.
Pinter signed with the Ravens this offseason and had worked his way into the projected starting spot at center. He was not going to be a Pro Bowl name, but he was solid, dependable, and the guy Baltimore was building the interior around. Losing him weeks before Week 1 is the kind of thing that changes an entire training camp.
Lamar Jackson now heads into the season without his projected starting center, which is a nightmare situation for any quarterback but especially for one whose whole game is built on pre-snap freedom and clean pocket movement. The center is the guy who runs point on protection calls. That relationship takes weeks to build, and Lamar just lost his.
The Ravens’ offensive line was already a work in progress coming into camp. Ronnie Stanley is still trying to stay healthy. Roger Rosengarten has moved between spots. The interior was the least settled part of the group, and Pinter was supposed to be the answer at the middle. Now they are back at the drawing board.
John Harbaugh has options, none of them ideal. He can slide a guard over to center and hope for the best. He can throw a rookie into the fire. Or he can hit the market and see what veteran centers are available this late in August. That last option is probably where this ends up, because the alternative is asking Lamar to run one of the most complex offenses in football with a center who is not ready.
The market for veteran centers in late August is thin, but not empty. There are always a handful of players floating around after final cuts who can walk in and play. The Ravens have the front office to identify those guys quickly. Eric DeCosta has a good track record of finding late-summer help.
Whether any of those veterans can walk in and immediately handle Lamar Jackson’s offense is a different question. This is not a team you can plug and play into. The tempo, the audible menu, the read-option responsibilities up front, all of it takes time.
The other path is internal, and it depends on who Baltimore trusts. Tyler Linderbaum has been the starter here before, but he was traded and moved on. Nick Samac has some experience. There are a couple of young players on the roster who could theoretically slide in, but asking any of them to open the season as a Week 1 starter is a big ask.
What makes this hurt more is the context around it. The AFC North looks brutal again this year. The Bengals are healthy. The Steelers reloaded their defense. The Browns finally have their quarterback situation somewhat stabilized. Baltimore does not have room for a slow start, and injuries on the offensive line are exactly how slow starts happen.
You feel for Pinter. Signing with a real contender, winning a starting job, then losing the whole year in a joint practice is a brutal way for a season to end. Patella tendon injuries also have long tails. Even in 2027 there is no guarantee he is the same player he was before Wednesday.
For the Ravens, this is a moment where the front office earns its money. Baltimore is not going to panic, and they should not. But they need a real answer at center in the next couple of weeks, and the whole season may pivot on how well they find one.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
